Good Trip, Bad Trip: 16 Of The Best Drugs Movies On Netflix (September 2017)

Love them or hate them, #drugs are the centerpoint of a big 'ole wrap of awesome movies that anyone from the hardline straight edger to the Snoop Dogg-level stoner can love... and loads of them are available at your streaming pleasure on Netflix.

From the hard-hitting dramas that gut punch you with the tragedy of the drug trade to hilarious weed-fueled romps, #Netflix has a wide variety of movies that might just blow your perception of controlled substances right out the window.

The Netflix Hardhitters

The movies below are definitely not feel-good Sunday afternoon Netflix viewing and you'll probably want to refrain from rolling up a blunt — if it's legal in your state, of course — to take in these epics that showcase the dark side of drug use.

Check out the best drug movies on Netflix below.

16. Narcos (Season 3 Arrives 1 September)

Release date: The third Season of Netflix's smash hit Narcos lands on 1 September 2017.

Director: José Padilha

IMDb score: 8.9/10

For a television show telling the real-life story of Pablo Escobar, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was nowhere for Narcos to turn following the drug kingpin's death at the end of Season 2. But you'd be wrong for thinking that.

The trailer for Narcos Season 3 promises even more of what makes rubbernecking on the South American drug empire so compelling; an unyielding, explosive battle against organised crime, with the Cali Cartel stepping up the levels of violence after Escobar's death.

15. The Truth About Alcohol

Release date: 26 May 2016

Director: David Briggs

IMDb score: 6,7/10

Sure, it might be legal, but alcohol is still very much a drug, and arguably the most dangerous around. This BBC documentary investigates both the damaging effects and benefits of alcohol in a way that will have you looking at that third glass of wine at dinner in an entirely different light.

14. A New High

Release date: 14 June 2015

Director: Samuel Miron, Stephen Scott Scarpulla

IMDb score: 7.4/10

This documentary follows a group of Seattle men and women who set off to tackle their demons — often a form of drug addiction — through an unorthadox program that uses mountain climbing as a means of rehabilitation.

Heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measures, this emotional movie sees the team summit one of the most dangerous mountains in the country.

13. Drugs Inc (TV Series)

[Credit: National Geographic]

Release date: 11 July 2010

Director: various

Cast: Mike Secher, Alex Cameron Dimez, Derrick Hesselein

IMDb score: 7.9/10

If you've ever wondered just how drugs are so harmful to society, this documentary follows the entire supply chain to show just how many peoples' lives are disrupted before the illicit substance ends up in the hands of the user themselves.

12. Enter the Void

Release date: 2009

Director: Gaspar Noé

Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy

IMDb score: 7.3/10

After an American drug dealer who has emigrated to Tokyo to ply his trade is betrayed by his so-called 'best friend' and killed in a police raid we are treated to an unsettling psychedelic voyage through the afterlife.

With some seriously unsettling camera angles (including one vagina's-eye view that you might want to avoid watching with your parents) and a tale of a lost soul seeking some sort of resurrection, Enter The Void is a nightmarish journey that echoes a bad trip.

11. Trainspotting

Release date: 9 August 1996

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller

IMDb score: 8.2/10

One of the most iconic drug movies of all time, Trainspotting's uncompromisingly dark look at heroin addicts in Edinburgh, Scotland attempts to drag viewers into the filthy, sweaty bowels of addiction.

Ewan McGregor's character Mark Renton realizes that drugs are destroying his life and chooses to flee the bad influences and temptations that surround him by fleeing to London where he truly learns that you cannot run away from your problems.

10. City Of God

Release date: 2002

Director: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund

Cast: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele, Leandro Firmino

IMDb score: 8.7/10

Hands down one of the most powerful movies about drugs I have ever watched, City Of God explores the all-consuming influence of the drug trade in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro on the people who live there, whether they want to be involved or not.

Following two poor youngsters whose lives become intertwined despite choosing entirely different paths, City Of God holds no punches in the way it depicts how poverty fuels desperation in 1970s Brazil.

Featuring an amateur photographer named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) who documents the violence drugs have stirred up in his neighborhood and José 'Zé' Pequeno (Leandro Firmino), an ambitious drug dealer who will stop at nothing to drum up his fame, this movie really puts a personal spin on the term 'turf war.'

9. Zulu

Release date: 2013

Director: Jérôme Salle

Cast: Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Conrad Kemp

IMDb score: 6.7/10

Following the investigation of the savage murder of a young white woman in South Africa, the plot of Zulu becomes more and more sinister as officers investigate a dangerous new street drug named 'tik.'

Along with the murder, tik seems to be connected with the disappearance of black street children and as the dedicated officers dig into the sordid case, the drug turns out to be more evil than they could possible imagine.

Although the main focus of Boogie Nights is the porn industry, the movie also explores the dark side of an industry brimming with drug abuse. When a young dishwasher (Mark Wahlberg) becomes a porn star, he ends up using cocaine to cope with past traumas he has experienced which, predictably, does not go well — especially because his career depends on getting an erection.

Funtime Netflix Romps

7. Chelsea Does Drugs (TV Series)

Chelsea Handler explores the highs and lows of the diverse world of drugs, often by just getting down to it and ingesting them herself.

With a focus on psychoactive substances, look forward to seeing Chelsea find the contents of her stomach as opposed to her true self while undergoing an ayahuasca ceremony.

6. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Release date: 24 August 2001

Director: Kevin Smith

Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck

IMDb score: 6.9/10

After being introduced as the enigmatic wall-leaning pot dealers in Kevin Smith's Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob finally get their turn in the spotlight in this hilarious stoner comedy about big corporations fucking over the little guy.

Jay and Silent Bob are initially thrilled to learn that a Bluntman and Chronic movie, based on the blazed antics of their comic book counterparts, is being made but the mood swiftly changes when they realize they will get none of the royalties.

With a well-justified "if we can't have it, nobody can" attitude the pair go about sabotaging the movie in any way they can think of with results that bring the lols all the way.

5. Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke

Release date: 15 September 1978

Director: Lou Adler, Tommy Chong

Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Strother Martin

IMDb score: 7.0/10

Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke might be the granddaddy of stoner comedy, but that doesn't mean it's too old to get on the Netflix bandwagon!

This buddy comedy sees Anthony Stoner (Tommy Chong) doing a runner from his uptight parents and hitting the road to do what he loves best, smoking da 'erb and playing drums.

He eventually meets his big stoner soulmate in the form of Pedro de Pacas (Cheech Martin) and the pair undergo trials including an arrest, deportation to Tijuana and smoking dog shit (yes, really) to compete in a rock band contest with an unforgettable song.

4. High Road

Release date: 6 March 2012

Director: Matt Walsh

Cast: Kathryn Burns, Lizzy Caplan, Michael Coleman

IMDb score: 5.4/10

High Road follows a young dude who is spreading himself thin between his three passions. His band, his girlfriend and dealing weed. Sadly for Glen "Fitz" Fitzgerald (James Pumphrey), he is apparently not so great at the dealing part and he ends up attempting to escape arrest after a drug bust with unexpected consequences.

An improvised comedy, High Road was praised for its innovative style at the 2011 Newport Beach Film Festival and won an honor for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking. The rest is Netflix history!

3. Mac & Devin Go To High School

[Credit: Anchor Bay Films]

Release date: 3 July 2012

Director: Dylan C. Brown

Cast: Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Mike Epps

IMDb score: 4.5/10

If the stoner comedy ever had a spirit animal, it's Snoop Dogg and Mac & Devin Go To High School lucked out by nabbing rap's lovable perpetually blazed uncle for the starring role. The movie didn't get great reviews, but if your stoned enough to watch it, you probably won't care anyhow!

2. Growing Op

Release date: 2008

Director: Michael Melski

Cast: Steven Yaffee, Jon Cor, Wallace Langham, Rosanna Arquette

IMDb score: 6.4/10

A hilarious Canadian indie comedy that also happens to be available on American Netflix, Growing Op follows a home-schooled teen who meets the girl of his dreams... who also happens to be a wildly popular alumni of the local high school.

The son of marijuana-growing hippies with a penchant for hugs, rainbows and butterflies that's a little too much for him to handle, Quinn (Steven Yaffee) soon realizes that maybe his off-the-wall family might just be the sanest people in the suburbs...

1. Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Release date: 22 May 1998

Director: Terry Gilliam

Cast: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire

IMDb score: 7.7/10

Constantly oscillating between the nightmarish and the euphoric effects of a whole suitcase full of drugs, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is probably the first flick that pops into your head when you think "drug movie."

With one of the performances of Johnny Depp's career and Hunter S. Thompson's helter-skelter storytelling keeping the breakneck pace, this surreal and jolting journey through casinos and opulent hotels is a cult classic everyone should see.